Palazzo Rinascimentaleen
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The Pincio in Antiquity The Villa Medici is situated on Pincio Hill. This hill does not belong to the seven major Roman hills, because it is outside the pomoerium , the sacred wall of antique Rome. However it does belong to the perimeter of the Aurelian walls built between 270 and 273 A.D. The Villa stands where the gardens of Lucius Lucinius Lucullus were. He was a Roman general and favourite of Sylla. Between 66 and 63 B.C. he built a major villa that covered the entire area between via Salaria Vetus and the current northern path of Pincio. As reported by Plutarch he welcomed Cicero and Pompeius. Valerius Asiaticus was twice consul and the first man from Narbonnean Gaul to be admitted into the Senate of Rome. During the Claude period he erected a large terrace garden, with a broad and semicirculal nymphaeum dominating the current domain of Trinità dei Monti. This chamber was topped by a temple dedicated to Fortune. Messalina , Claude’s wife, coveted the domain and overwhelmed Valerius Asiaticus with calumnious charges. Under her influence, Claude pushed Valerius Asiaticus to suicide. Several years later, Messalina, who became the ruler of the domain, died under the blows of soldiers sent by her own husband. The villa of Lucullus remained imperial property until the time of Trajan, who apparently preferred the gardens of Sallust, on the eastern part of Pincio. During the third century A.D. the domain was occupied by the patrician family of the Achilii, who gave it away to the Pincii during the fourth century. Interestingly the current name of the hill comes from this very family, whose history is still little known. Emperor Aurelius built a wall around Rome during the third century to protect it from Barbarian invasions. It still surrounds the Villa. Nevertheless the wall fell under the troops of Alaric that invaded Rome in 410 A.D through the Salarian gate, located on Pincio. Then Emperor Honorius (395-423 A.D.) built his palace in the gardens. Belisarius kept his camp there when he defended Rome against the Ostrogoth Vitigès in 537 A.D. At the fall of the Roman Empire, the place was abandoned because of its suburban location. The Renaissance Palace We only have little information about the history of the Pincio hill between the 6th and 16th century. When Cardinal Ricci of Montepulciano purchased it in 1564 it was a tiny building called Casina Crescenzi , bearing the name of its former owner, and some antique ruins such as the Temple of Fortune. Cardinal Ricci had a palace built by Florentine architect Nanni di Baccio Bigio, at the current location of the Villa Medici. When he died in 1574, the construction had not finished yet. Ferdinando de’ Medici (1549-1609), cardinal at the age of 13, collector and sponsor, purchased it in 1576 and asked the Florentine architect Ammannati to build a palace worth the prestige of the Medici family. Devoted to Antiquity, like many of his contemporaries, Ferdinando conceived his Villa representing a museum. He added a gallery where he presented his collection of antique masterpieces. He inserted in the facade a series of antique bas-reliefs. Even the garden was designed in the same spirit of staging, like the botanic gardens of Pisa and Florence designed by his father several years before. Numerous rare species were gathered there, amongst antique statues. Further south, ruins of the Temple of Fortune were overlaid by a belvedere from where one's sight could embrace the major part of the city and surrounding countryside. Far from sight a small pavilion was built ordered by Ferdinando de’ Medici inside one of the old towers of the Aurelus wall. It had a sight on the Roman countryside and was composed of a main room and a smaller one with a narrow balcony. The recent restoration of those rooms have highlighted a beautiful decoration from the workshop of Jacopo Zucchi, painted in 1576-1577. It represented a grapevine populated by a multitude of birds. The lobby was decorated by Zucchi, student of Vasari who painted grotesques and views from the Villa at different times, as well as allegories and scenes from Esope’s fables. In 1587 Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici was called to Florence to replace Francois the First on the throne of Tuscany. He left the decoration of the Villa partly unfinished. The most precious statues and the comprehensive set of the collections were moved to Florence. The Lorraines, heirs of the Great Duchy of Tuscany sold the Villa in 1803. The Villa Medici from Balthus to today In 1961 the painter Balthus was appointed director of the Villa Medici, the French Academy at Rome. He launched a vast campaign of restoration in the spirit of Renaissance. Casts of statues were put in the gardens, like the group of the Niobides. Frescoes from cardinal Ricci’s period were restored after having been revealed following many previous washings. Finally, the creation of exhibition halls expressed the will to cultural openness of the Villa formulated by Culture minister André Malraux. Archaeological diggings led several times by the French School at Rome generated major discoveries about the antique period. Therefore, it has been possible to comprehensively explore the ruins of Roman emperor Honorius’ palace (early Vth century) buried beneath the piazzale (square) in front of the loggia. The Loggia The facade of the Villa opens on the gardens that inspired numerous masterpieces such as engravings from Pinaresi, imaginary views by Claude Lorrain, as well as Norblin and Duprè’s painting representing the Party organized by Chateaubriand for the Archduchess Helen of Russia (1829) or the photographs by the Alinari brothers. The beautiful columns of cipolin and Egyptian granite frame the rich polychrome inlay of marble placed in front of the fountain of Mercury. It is a copy of a sculpture by Gaimbologna currently at the museum of Bargello in Florence. Two lions evoke both Florence, Leo X and Ferdinando de’ Medici, who was born under the sign of Leo. The spheres under the legs of the lions on the banister refer to the arms of the Medici family. The Grand Salon The Grand Salon was designed during the cardinal de’ Medici time to be a place of celebrations and receptions. Its windows open on a unique panorama on the Eternal City. From the 19th century to Balthus it housed the library of the Academy. Balthus wished to restore the Renaissance-like genuine spirit of the Lounge. He moved the library and cleaned the paintings to restore the essential green colour of the Lounge. This colour is now called “A la Balthus” because it is a heterogenic tint that thrills visitors. The Great Lounge was later decorated with tapestries from the Gobelins workshop brought to Rome in 1726. They previously decorated the Mancini palace, the former directorate of the French Academy of Rome during the presidency of the painter Nicolas Vleughels (1725-1737). Those Indian-style tapestries represent hunting scenes and animal fights. The Ferdinando de’ Medici Gallery The Gallery is adjacent to the Lounge suite. It was conceived to show collections of antiques owned by Ferdinando de’ Medici. A great number of travellers came from all over Europe to admire his collections. Between 1587 and the end of the 18th century, after his departure, the collections were transferred to Florence. During the 19th century, once the Villa had become the headquarters of the French Academy in Rome, its artists showed their pieces of art in the Gallery of moulding, reproducing antiques from Roman times. Thereafter the Gallery was been divided in three parts, the library and two reception halls, under the Balthus administration. The Bosco studio The studio is located under the Bosco terrace. It was represented by Diego Velasquez during the 17th century in a famous painting now in the collection of the Prado museum of Madrid. The Bosco studio was the location of the ephemeral Museum of the Villa Medici, between 1933 and World War II. Later it became Balthus’ workshop in the 1960s and 1970s. It is nowadays a well-known exhibition location for contemporary artists. The Cardinal’s bedroom When he bought the Ricci Palace Cardinal Ferdinand de’ Medici asked Jacopo Zucchi to decorate his apartments above a loggia he just enlarged. The apartments are composed of three rooms which open to the piazzale and the finely decorated gardens. The first room is the Chamber of the Elements, the second one is called the Chamber of the Muses, and the third one is the Chamber of Jupiter’s’ loves. Cosimo III, who considered those decorations too licentious, had them destroyed by fire during his journey to Rome in 1700. The Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici slept in the Chamber of the Muses. On the typical Florentine ceiling are painted women carrying their symbols. They are surrounded by square and hexagonal paintings. Those women are the muses of the neo- platonic tradition ruling the movement of each planet. They are all surrounded by a frieze presenting the history of Hercules and Minerva, prominent gods inspiring the horoscope of Ferdinando de’ Medici. His father Cosimo I is told to have seen in his birth’s horoscope signs of royal destiny. As Ferdinando was the fifth son of Cosimo I his father decided to hide the document predicting the death of his four first sons. Indeed three of them died very young. In Rome, Ferdinando, who knew the document, decided to make it self-fulfilling by showing it through the ceiling of his suite. Undoubtfully he sought the Saint See. In 1587 when his elder brother Francesco I died, he replaced him at the head of the Great Duchy of Tuscany.